Benefits of Pumpkin

This lovely guest post is from the amazing Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and Food Toxin Expert; Leann Forst. She is the creator and author of ‘Groovy Beets’ which is an inspirational health blog with tons of nutritional information and healthy recipes. Check her out! 🙂 And since October just ended I thought we could all use one more month of pumpkins. Read below to find out all the great benefits:

6 Reasons Why You Should Eat Pumpkin
Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cupcakes…the number of yummy recipes you can make with pumpkin is endless! And for good reason, because adults and kids alike LOVE pumpkin. It’s so sweet, creamy and delicious and fills the room with an irresistible aroma when baked. As if this isn’t enough reason to eat more pumpkin, then here are 6 more that you may not be aware of:Cancer Prevention – like their orange cousins the sweet potato, the carrot and the butternut squash, pumpkins are loaded with the antioxidant beta-carotene, which is linked to cancer prevention, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Fiber to Fill You Up – Most people should consume between 20 and 35 grams of fiber each day, according to the Harvard School of Public Health, but many people don’t get more than 15 grams. Fiber helps you digest your food efficiently, which helps your body absorb the nutrients from your food. One cup of pumpkin puree provides you with 7.1 grams of dietary fiber.

Digestion Support – Pumpkin puree contains about 10 percent of your daily requirement for potassium as well. You need adequate amounts of potassium to support healthy digestion.

Weight Loss – Pumpkin is a very low calorie vegetable and contains only 80 calories and one gram of fat. This makes it great for people watching their waist line.

Better Vision – A cup of cubed pumpkin contains almost twice the recommended daily intake of vitamin A, which promotes good vision, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Heart Health – Pumpkin seed oil is full of phytoestrogens, which is beneficial for preventing hypertension. When researchers fed rats a diet supplement with the oil, they found that it helped lower both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in just 12 weeks.

Don’t think you have to go grow and carve your own to get to the good stuff on the inside. But you do have to be selective on which packaged pumpkin you purchase (say that 3 times fast☺). Choose plain canned pumpkin since a cup of canned pumpkin puree with salt can contain over 500 milligrams of sodium!
Be aware that pure canned pumpkin is different than canned pumpkin pie mix, which is a less healthy product because of its high sugar content. A cup of canned pumpkin pie mix contains 71 grams carbohydrates, with many of them from added sugars, while a cup of pure canned pumpkin has 20 grams of total carbohydrates and no added sugars. Each cup of canned pumpkin pie mix contains 281 calories on average.

Leann Forst, MBA, CHHP Board Certified Holistic Health Coach www.groovybeets.com
Born and raised as an Iowa farm girl, Leann had been in sales and marketing for 20 years until her life turned an abrupt corner when faced with challenging health issues for herself and her family that traditional medicine could not help. As a die-hard researcher and determined mother, Leann healed her family and went on to becoming a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner and Food Toxin Expert studying over 100 dietary and healing theories at the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, the World’s Largest Nutrition School. Leann teaches moms to identify food toxins and triggers that are making their family sick. Please visit Leann at www.groovybeets.com for free health tips, recipes, guides and e-Book.

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